If the carriers had been at home they would have been destroyed for sure.
I wonder though what would have happened then................ I don't think the Japanese were in any sort of position to invade mainland USA. They kind of shot their bolt in the remaining areas of the Pacific - they were on the limits of their ability in PNG I think - Australia would probably have been a step too far from a logistics perpective but would probably have been the next battlefield.
Did the US have any other carriers (non-Pacific fleet) that they could have diverted ?
With regards to the pictures - they are great but actually some of them even look like stills from 'Tora Tora Tora'.
Arc